The Camden Fringe is almost upon us, providing one of the best times in the capital to get into Fringe theatre, and the stories it can tell. To get prepared for the festival, Read About Stuff is running a ‘Five From The Fringe’ interview series, where creative teams answer five questions about their upcoming Festival shows.
In this interview, I chat to the cast of the upcoming show Dead Effing Rebels.
Can you tell me a little about your show and what audiences can expect?
Ivy Harper (Andrew): A group of accountants have been committing fraudulent and homosexual activities for 27 years and pin both on their manager.
Rufus Brierley (David): A very real, very tragic, very scandalous, very insightful insight into a very corporate corporation.
What drew you to this specific story, and why does it belong at the Edinburgh Fringe?
Sylvia Gardner (Writer and Director): The short answer is I had an awful manager at a café I worked at last summer and from that decided to write about how management and traditional power dynamics are inherently based on psychosexual domination. The slightly more nuanced (and professional, or so I’m told) approach is that I’ve always been fascinated by how sexuality, in its simplest components of desire and control, is expressed under different circumstances and, specifically, gender presentations. Camden Fringe has been very dear to my heart since I debuted last year as a place where it really does feel like the work presented here is at the cutting edge of theatre, consistently expanding far above what ought to be possible on shoestring budgets by young artists! In a time when fear-mongering rhetoric, targeted towards young queer people, and especially trans people, has become a mainstay of mainstream media, Camden Fringe allows us a platform to stand up and fight back. That’s what Dead Effing Rebels is all about.
What has been the biggest challenge in bringing this production to life?
Mika Trench (Assistant Director): We’ve been diligently treading the line between the overwhelming hilarity of our wonderful cast and script and the more serious and complex commentary on the exploration of gender identity and representation dealt with in the text. While the script is brilliantly witty, the overarching discussion of the presentation of masculinity and femininity in our (frankly absurd) office is not a task taken lightly. In rehearsals, we’ve been working on creating a dynamic physical and vocal for each character to fully grapple with gender politics and sexuality, rather than devolve into the same archetype of the overwrought office worker and the jaded drag queen. – Mika Trench, Assistant Director.
How does the design of your show (set, sound, or lighting) impact the presentation of your story?
Bryony Curley (Chief Technician): “The lighting design within ‘Dead Effing Rebels’ particularly reflects the cut in/cut out of the two settings whilst ultimately uniting them. Initially, quick transitions from a clinical white to a vibrant club provide a clear change in setting. The gradual muddiness of the settings begins with the same setting but varying props, using tables as both office desks and dressing tables. This reflects the power dynamics presented to us by ‘Mister’. For sound, we are looking to make use of a continuous, low-frequency noise throughout the performance, getting the audience to view it as part of the setting, a low buzz of an office/club. Cutting this sound after a while produces an eerie feeling and a sense of instability.
If you could sum up the show in one word or phrase, what would it be and why?
Rufus Brierley: Effing good.
Ivy Harper: Killing one middle manager with four stones, because it really does take a village to bring down your boss.
Dead Effing Rebels runs at Barons Court Theatre on 17 – 23 August. Tickets are available here: https://camdenfringe.com/events/dead-effing-rebels/
